Razer Upgrades Your Stereo Headphones to 7.1 Gaming Surround Sound

Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, today announced the latest member of its software family: Razer Surround.
Razer Surround is a state-of-the-art audio engine that provides 7.1 virtual surround sound with any stereo headphones. The current generation of virtual surround technology often provides inaccurate listening experiences because individuals perceive sound differently based on their distinct ear sizes and shapes. As such, virtual surround sound traditionally falls short compared to discrete surround sound setups.

With the patent-pending Razer Surround audio engine, users have the option to calibrate their personal surround sound settings through a series of listening tests to match their preferences, giving them far superior positional sound over traditional virtual solutions. Razer Surround gives gamers a truly individualized 7.1 surround sound and attuned 3D audio experience, allowing them to acoustically pinpoint exact locations of opponents in game, providing "the unfair advantage" in gameplay.

Razer Surround is available as a complementary software add-on, integrated within Razer's Synapse 2.0 application, offering virtual 7.1 surround sound and storing individual audio signatures in the cloud. These settings can be accessed anytime and will automatically update new systems to previous calibrated settings.

In recognition of the support that the gaming community gives Razer, and in solidarity with its trade partners in gaming, Razer has waived the US$19.99 price for Razer Surround through December 2013, so that people who sign-up during this period will get a free copy of the program. During this timeframe, users will also have the option to make a donation of any amount to Child's Play (www.childsplaycharity.org) after their download start. Everyone signing-up from Jan. 1, 2014, onward, will pay the full price of $19.99.

While the donations to Child's Play are purely voluntary and users can choose to download Razer Surround for free, Razer hopes that through this initiative users can together with Razer help children in hospitals around the world enjoy games like we do.

Child's Play's stated mission is "? to improve the lives of children in hospitals around the world through the kindness and generosity of the video game industry and the power of play." As of the date of this release, the philanthropy had raised more than US$5 million in contributions.

"With the individual calibration of Razer Surround, we're setting a new standard in 7.1 virtual surround sound," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "We're a big believer of giving back to our fans and the gaming community, and making Razer Surround available free with a donation to Child's Play in 2013 is a testament of our commitment to giving back to current and future gamers of the world."

Power up your PC - Needs to be connected to Cloud to verify the serial nr of your mobo.
Loading OS - Only if you pay monthly fee to M$ to use its OS
Loading drivers - You need to be always online for DRM check (as Razer patented this on 2013)
Running applications - Need broadband connection, since all of them are installed on the Cloud
Running games - Same as above + DRM always check + mandatory monthly fee to play online

Power up your PC - Needs to be connected to Cloud to verify the serial nr of your mobo.
Loading OS - Only if you pay monthly fee to M$ to use its OS
Loading drivers - You need to be always online for DRM check (as Razer patented this on 2013)
Running applications - Need broadband connection, since all of them are installed on the Cloud
Running games - Same as above + DRM always check + mandatory monthly fee to play online

while this is off topic, i have to correct you. Linux is open source and decentralized. Sure, you have the Linux kernel which is the foundation of the operating system, but then you have dozens of distributions built on top of it that act completely differently. There can be no commercial success of Linux since Linux is not a company. Microsoft is closed source and for profit. Greed is in their very nature. Linux on the other hand is free and open source. Red Hat and Canonical are really the only two corporations that have made a profit by using the Linux kernel and tweaking it. Even then, they make their money mostly from support agreements and not from the software.

Therefore, if you use a program like the one Razor is selling in a Linux environment, someone will come a long and make a freely available version that doesn't require any sort of internet connection to use.

Therefore, if you use a program like the one Razor is selling in a Linux environment, someone will come a long and make a freely available version that doesn't require any sort of internet connection to use.

If Linux was more supported by the games industry, a lot of people would dump Microsoft and use Linux of some form. Since it isnt, and its a bitch to get a game to work in Linux even using Wine, people will be using MS. Hell, even for games ive bought in the past (see Bioshock with their shitty amount of limited installs) i eventually just cracked my paid for copy just to play it. Im not going to call or email a company everytime i want to/need to uninstall and reinstall a game.

If Linux was more supported by the games industry, a lot of people would dump Microsoft and use Linux of some form. Since it isnt, and its a bitch to get a game to work in Linux even using Wine, people will be using MS. Hell, even for games ive bought in the past (see Bioshock with their shitty amount of limited installs) i eventually just cracked my paid for copy just to play it. Im not going to call or email a company everytime i want to/need to uninstall and reinstall a game.

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I think Linux is a much better platform for indie game developers so I hope to see growth there. With Steam supporting a limited amount of titles on Ubuntu the Linux community has made giant leaps forward in terms of accessibility. I don't see this trend slowing down anytime soon. It is just as easy to play games on Linux as it is Windows, we just need more opengl developers and better video drivers.